]]>BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: This coming week (September 13), with the sighting of the new moon, Muslims around the world will begin celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours. It’s also a time of increased giving to the poor. But many American Muslims say the U.S. government’s war against terror is hurting their efforts at charity. Kim Lawton has our report.

KIM LAWTON: Sudan’s war-torn Darfur province is one of the most desolate and dangerous places on earth. Anwar Khan of Islamic Relief USA has seen that desolation firsthand. Islamic Relief has several projects in Darfur’s refugee camps. On this day, Khan’s team is training women to make cooking stoves out of mud. The less often the women have to leave the camps to gather firewood, the less likely they are to be raped by roaming militia men. Khan says doing such humanitarian work is a way that he lives out his faith.

ANWAR KHAN (National Development Director, Islamic Relief USA): To us, the way that you see a Muslim is not by the size of his beard or the clothes. It’s not a fashion statement. It’s a state of mind. It’s helping others to make this world a better place.

LAWTON: But in a post-September 11 world, doing charity work has become much more complicated. In the wake of 9/11, many Muslim groups say they’ve been unfairly targeted by the U.S. government’s war against terrorism. Several Muslim charities have been shut down because of suspected links to terrorists. There’s a lot of fear among potential donors that they could come under suspicion as well.

SALAM AL-MARAYATI (Executive Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council): I think a lot of people have fear about giving, and I think it’s justifiable.

LAWTON: Muslim leaders say the situation is putting new constraints on one of the most basic obligations of their faith: helping the needy.

Mr. AL-MARAYATI: The term is called zakat, and what that means in Arabic is called “the purifying dues.” So by giving, I purify myself in the process.

LAWTON: Like praying five times a day, zakat is one of the five pillars, or core requirements, of Islam. Under the laws of zakat, Muslims must give 2.5 percent of their yearly income and total assets after their basic needs have been met.

Mr. KHAN: Like in many of the churches you have to give a certain percentage of your income to the church. The zakat is a tithe. It’s an obligation to give back to God. But you’re not giving just to him, you’re giving actually to the needy.

LAWTON: According to the Qur’an, there are specific categories of people who should receive the money. In some Muslim countries, the government automatically deducts zakat from people’s bank accounts to use for state-sponsored welfare work. Charity is especially important during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims believe they get extra rewards in this life and the next.

Mr. KHAN: Any act of worship we do, any good action we do in Ramadan, we have been told we will receive 70 to infinite times the number of reward. So if I smile at you, that’s a form of charity. But if I do it in Ramadan, I get 70 times the reward. It’s the blessed month.

LAWTON: Khan says it’s a good time of year for humanitarian groups like his.

Mr. KHAN: But in Ramadan, its people want to come and they want to give us money. The rest of the year we have to go to them and say, “Hey, hey, hey. People still have to eat.”

LAWTON: And so Islamic Relief sponsors a host of fundraising events, such as this concert at LA’s Shrine Auditorium, headlined by the international Muslim rock star, Sami Yusuf.

SAMI YUSUF (Recording Artist): I honestly believe that, if every human being on this planet gave zakat, just 2.5 percent, I don’t think there would be any poverty in this world.

LAWTON: Islamic Relief USA is affiliated with the U.K.-based Islamic Relief Worldwide. It’s the largest Muslim charity in America, with projects here at home and overseas. The group, like others, has come under increased monitoring from the U.S. government. Since 9/11, the Treasury Department has stepped up investigations through its Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes.

DANIEL GLASER (Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department): Unfortunately, we have uncovered a number of charities that have been engaged in terrorist financing for a range of terrorist organizations, organizations such as Hamas, organizations such as Al-Qaeda, organizations such as Hezbollah. And in these cases, these organizations are quite frankly taking advantage of the impulses of the American Muslim community.

LAWTON: One of the most prominent Muslim nonprofits, the Holy Land Foundation, was shut down by the government in December 2001, and all of its assets were frozen. The group and its leaders are now on trial in Texas. Five other American Muslim groups have also been designated as supporters of terrorism. Deputy Assistant Secretary Glaser says charities are uniquely suited to be exploited by terrorists.

Mr. GLASER: They deal in raising money and moving money across borders often. They often deal in cash. They have perfectly legitimate reasons to be in conflict regions and post-disaster regions. So for a terrorist organization, they provide a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of.

LAWTON: Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council says the investigations have provoked deep concern within the American Muslim community.

Mr. AL-MARAYATI: Muslim charities are going through more scrutiny, and I think that’s understandable. Nobody is saying we shouldn’t, and that’s just a reality of the post 9/11 era. The question is, can we allow for a safe harbor for Muslim charities to operate under without the fear of getting harassed, targeted and shut down by the U.S. government?

LAWTON: Many Muslims believe the government has been overzealous, relying on little evidence and making very indirect connections between legitimate charity work and terrorists. There’s a widespread perception that the U.S. government wants to shut down all Muslim nonprofits.

Mr. GLASER: Well, it’s a great challenge that we face. I mean, the easy answer is that of course we are not targeting Muslim charities as a whole. Unfortunately, it is the terrorist organizations that are targeting Muslim charities.

LAWTON: The Treasury Department has released a set of charitable guidelines, but Muslim leaders are urging more dialogue between top federal officials and their community.

Mr. AL-MARAYATI: We want to develop a partnership between the Muslim community and the U.S. government. Treat us as partners, not as suspects.

LAWTON: Al-Marayati says government officials should be worried that their policies could be backfiring.

Mr. AL-MARAYATI: Now you hear stories about people, instead of giving money to a charity, they’ll just send cash overseas. And you don’t know where the cash is ending up. This becomes a source of anti-American sentiment when people view that the United States is blocking aid to a certain region where people are really in need.

LAWTON: Islamic Relief is trying to work with the government. They just announced a new joint project in the West African nation of Burkino Faso. But Khan admits it’s a challenge to counter the perceptions.

Mr. KHAN: Many people are afraid. And we have to fight their fear. People are saying that the U.S. government won’t allow us to pay our zakat. I’m saying they will.

LAWTON: Despite the concerns, Khan says some good has come out of the government scrutiny.

Mr. KHAN: The surprising thing is that with all of the checking that’s being done, it’s increased our transparency. So the same information we give to the government, we can give to anybody.

LAWTON: In order to avoid the complications, some are urging Muslims to simply give to non-Muslim charities. But Khan says it’s vital that Islamic faith-based groups stay in business.

Mr. KHAN: We have access to communities that others don’t go, and I try to explain this to my Muslim friends that if you don’t give money to us, there’s nobody else you can give money to.

LAWTON: And, Muslims leaders say, it’s also vital that government investigations not hinder the free exercise of their religious obligations.

]]>Read more of Kim Lawton’s interview about Muslims and charity with Anwar Khan, national development director of Islamic Relief

Q: What is the mission of Islamic Relief?

A: It’s to make this world a better place. To help those who are impoverished get up on their feet. To be able to bring people together from different backgrounds.

Q: How do you try to do that?

A: We work here in the U.S. with people of different faiths to help raise awareness and raise funds for people in need here in the U.S. and overseas. We don’t want to just talk about unity. We want to practice unity, so we go to places that are in real need. As you know, in some countries 1 in 4 children die before they reach their 5th birthday. In other countries, the average age is 44 years. So we go to those areas, wherever they be, in Africa, whether they be in Asia, wherever they’re in need, and we try to help them, and over there we work through a system of volunteers. So here we raise the money through a network of volunteers. Most of our manpower here are volunteers. We then transfer the funds to Islamic Relief partners overseas. They then work through volunteers in the affected area. And we work with people of different colors, of different religions, of different ethnicities–together. One example is when we worked in India. We worked in the south of India, and our name is Islamic Relief, so we went there and we built a water well. Some of the local Hindus from lower castes, the untouchables, came to us and asked us, “Can we drink from the water well or is it only for Muslims?” First, we were surprised by the question. It didn’t occur to us that anyone would ask us, “Can I use your water?” I said, “Of course. Water is for everybody.” But then we found out that there were issues in the area about certain groups were not allowed to drink water from the water well, and we said, “This is not for Muslims, this is for everybody.” In the south of Sudan, we’re working in areas which are predominantly Christian, and our staff is Christian. So you have Christian Islamic Relief staff working with the Christian community. When they look at the Muslim faith they don’t look at it as just people trying to push people into their faith. They look at us the way we want everyone to look at each other, which is we’re all here to help humanity. If we go to sleep tonight and we haven’t made this world a better place by helping somebody, we’ve wasted our day. This is true in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism–all of the faiths in the world. So in Islam we treat others the way that we would like them to treat us. This is the Golden Rule. So here in Islamic Relief we’re actually putting this into action. Our people are risking their lives to deliver aid. We are working together with people of diverse communities here to help people of diverse communities over there.

Q: How does Islamic Relief decide which projects it takes on?

A: Here in the U.S., it depends where we have local partners. For example, in South Central LA, we have a local partner. In Louisiana, we have our own office over there. So here in the U.S. it depends where we have our offices and where we have local partners. Overseas, we work with international partners, the same way you have the American Red Cross. The same way you have, for example, the British Red Cross or the Lebanese Red Cross. They coordinate with each other. We coordinate with the different Islamic Relief partners, and they’re in Europe, Asia, and Africa. So if we have local partners there, we work through them. If we don’t, then we find in certain areas, for example Congo, we work through one of the Catholic charities in that area and in El Salvador. So we will work with different partners that we trust in that area. We have some agreements with different international organizations, so when there’s a crisis we work with them. For example, Catholic Overseas Aid for Development–that’s from Europe. They have an understanding that if there’s a crisis in a Muslim country, and we have an office, they help us out. If there’s a crisis in a Catholic country and they have a problem, we work through them. So we give the money and they do the work over there and vice versa.

Q: And there’s a project you’re working on with the U.S. government in Burkina Faso?

A: Yes. We received general assistance from the U.S. government to help with the transportation cost of supplies that we’re supplying over there, and we’ve done this in the past. The U.S. government, the U.S. military, has helped to pay for the costs of transport for shipments, so we work with local friends and partners here. And I think the shipments are coming from non-Muslim friends, some of them from churches and other areas, so we get the supplies from them. We get assistance from the U.S. government to ship it over there, and then we work with our local partners and our staff in Africa to deliver the aid.

Q: Can it be a difficult thing on the ground to have some of these partners? For example, there are places where the U.S. government isn’t necessarily the best partner sometimes. Is that an issue for you?

A: It depends where and when. Some of our staff have died delivering aid, and that’s a part of working in conflict zones. We don’t want to do anything that endangers our staff’s lives. So in certain areas we will work just through Islamic Relief. In other areas we will work with different partners. So it really depends on the security situation in the area.

Q: Tell me about the religious motivations for this work. What is the faith element in this? Why is it important to have the word “Islamic” in the organization title?

A: I was asked the same question in a press conference in Karachi last week. They asked me, “But you’re a humanitarian organization. That’s what it sounds like.” They came to the press conference thinking it was a religious organization only to find out we were doing humanitarian work. And this is in Pakistan, which is a Muslim country. And I was a little bit surprised that people even asked that question, because you see to me Islam is a religion of peace and mercy. When I watch TV people say, “I’m fed up hearing Islam means peace,” and it does. The translation means peace through submission to the will of God. And people are saying, “I’m for that.” No, it really means that to me. To me, the part of Islam that I understood was when we start anything we say “In the name of Allah, most merciful, most compassionate.” So to us, mercy and compassion are a part of the faith. This is what we follow. The Prophet Muhammad, we were told, was a mercy not to Muslims–to mankind. He loved the orphans. He supported the widows. He helped the needy. So to us the way that you see a Muslim is not by the size of his beard or the clothes. It’s not a fashion statement. It’s a state of mind. It’s helping others to make this world a better place. I believe, as a Muslim, that I’m here to make this world a better place. My Jewish friends, my Christian friends, they will say the same thing. We have different ways of making this world a better place, and I believe that all of the prayers we do, all of the other actions we do of worship are here to be a training for us so we become better people so we can help others, so when I go to places, and I have been to mass graves in Bosnia, I find out that people were thrown like human garbage in the area, that a little baby was buried in a mother’s arms in the area. And you ask yourself why? My faith gives me strength for that time, and I see faith as a way that we can improve the world, improve the humanitarian work. The advantage to me about Islamic Relief is that we can go to areas that other charities can’t go. Catholic charities can go to some areas that we can’t go. Jewish charities can go to areas that we can’t go, but we can go to some areas that they can’t go. So what I believe is that the faith community around the world, if we work together, we can make the world a better place. We see all the time that religion is used as an excuse to harm people. But religion can also be used to bring people together, and this is what I love about the work of Islamic Relief. On my first trip, when I was 22 years of age, I went to Bosnia. I went to areas where no other aid agency in the world was going. Islamic Relief is one of the few aid agencies working in Herzegovina and Chechnya at the moment. We have access to communities that others don’t go. I try to explain this to my Muslim friends, that if you don’t give money to us, there’s nobody else you can give money to. I explain to my non-Muslim friends sometimes we’re the only ones working in that particular area. The reason is because when we use the name “Islam,” some of the Muslim communities, the same ones that might be upset with some of the organizations you mentioned–we start off on a good level of trust just by using that name. And people get amazed. “How can you be Muslim and American?” When I was at an international water convention in Kyoto, Japan a few years ago, the Muslims thought we were all in concentration camps. They thought that all American Muslims are in concentration camps, they’re all being harassed, and there are no freedoms for Muslims in America. This is what they’ve believed, according to their media. When we met the American delegation they were a bit wary of us: “You guys are still open? We thought all you guys were shut down.” They thought all the Muslims charities in America were shut down. So whether it is here in America, whether it is overseas, people have the perception that we don’t have the freedom. As long as we have freedom, we are free to make this world a better place, and that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to strive towards that. That’s why I came from Europe to America. I just graduated from university to help start Islamic Relief in America. That’s what keeps me here. I have the freedom in America that I don’t have in other parts of the Muslim world as a Muslim. I’m very grateful for that. I have the freedom here to decide to go over there and to risk my life and help people in need. And when they find out that there are American Muslims, their opinion of America improves. You see, many people–it’s not that they don’t like Americans. They don’t like American government policy. But I told them there are many people here that have the same opinion. So what we’re trying to do is bring people together from different backgrounds so we can see each other for who we are, not for what our governments are. Not for just what our religious leaders or leaderships say. We want it to be one on one. And when they see that, I believe the opinion that people have of America improves, and opinion they have of Muslims over here improves when people find out.

Q: How important is the principle of zakat in Islam?

A: The best translation of zakat is the tithe. Like in many of the churches you have to give a certain percentage of your income to the church–the zakat is a tithe. It’s an obligation to give back to God. But you’re not giving just to him, you’re giving actually to the needy. So there are seven categories of people who are eligible for zakat, so it’s not a normal form of giving. It’s a specialized form of giving that you don’t decide. It’s already been decided–seven categories, whether they be widows, orphans, the needy, and others, and you help them out. So if, for example, you want to give to a mosque, that’s not covered in the seven categories. That you have to give as a donation which is called sadaqah. Sadaqah is charity. Zakat is a tithe. The tithe is 2.5% of your assets over a certain amount that you haven’t used for a year. So it’s extra money. It’s not on your house, it’s not on your car, but it might be on your second house. So it’s basically–the concept is to purify your wealth, that if you get money, and if you have enough just to survive, that’s great. But if you have more than that, the concept is to share money. We don’t believe in the concept of sitting on money and its just increasing. You have to work for your money. So one way is in zakat–that you are forced every year to give to those that are less fortunate. The other way is when people die the inheritance is split between the children. So you don’t get the concept of the eldest son, the eldest child getting all the money and the rest getting nothing. So we want people all the time to work for what they have and to spread the wealth around. So the concept of zakat is to spread the wealth around to those in need. But people ignore the importance of sadaqah. Sadaqah is voluntary giving that anybody at any time can give. So we want people to give the zakat, but we also want people to give their sadaqah, and there are different types of sadaqah, which is charity. There’s a one-time giving and there’s a sadaqah jariah, which is a particular kind of giving which is helping people in future generations. For example, if you build a school, that’s a service to the community. Long after you die, you will still get the blessings and reward of that form of charity–building a water well–because we believe that when we die as Muslims, all of our sins stop. However, if we do a good action, and we aspire to do good actions, we’re still increasing in our blessings. So our concept of zakat is it is a pillar of faith. There are five pillars of faith. Zakat is one of them. Pray in Arabic is salat. Salat and zakat rhyme. The Qur’an has beautiful poetry, and there’s a lot of rhyming. The reason they rhyme is they’re in the same sentence again and again and again. So if you believe in prayer, if you believe in Islam, you must believe in zakat. You must believe in helping those in need, and then on top of that, we encourage people to give more. Many of our donors, they do not give 2.5% only in zakat. Many of them give more in their donations. And that may be to a mosque, that may be to a school, that may be to other forms of charity that aren’t covered in zakat.

Q: Do you think people realize how important that is, that it’s one of the basic tenets of Islam?

A: People know, but we’re trying to educate people. There’s a bit of confusion. As people come from different parts of the Muslim world, you’ve got to remember in many Muslim countries they don’t have to calculate the zakat. The government automatically takes it out of the bank account. This is in the case of Pakistan. If you have money that is entitled, the government will automatically take it. Normally, the state will take the money. It wasn’t taken by the mosque. The state will take the money, and they will do it like we have welfare in this country. It will be spent on different welfare projects done by the state. What we do in Islamic Relief is say there’s no state here that’s taking the money. So we’re setting ourselves up as a nonprofit organization that is helping to deliver the zakat. For many people we explain to them you still, even though you live here, you still have to pay zakat. We know it’s difficult to pay. We’re trying to make it easier for you. We give them different options, different ways of paying. So we’re basically trying to provide a facility here in the West so they can fulfill their obligation no matter where in the world they are.

Q: Why, during Ramadan, is giving especially important?

A: Any act of worship we do, any good action we do in Ramadan, we have been told we will receive 70 to infinite times the number of reward. So if I smile at you, that’s a form of charity. But if I do it in Ramadan, I get 70 times the reward. It’s the blessed month. It’s the month when Allah has asked us to make sacrifices, to sacrifice some of our material wealth, to endure our body, to sacrifice some parts of our body, the pain, the hunger pain, so that we can come closer to God. We’re not meant to lie, we’re not meant to steal or backbite or slander at any time of the year, like every faith believes in that. But we believe in Ramadan that it’s a training system for us–if we are to go to a higher level of awareness with God that we have to be willing to make sacrifices. Whether it be some of our wealth, whether it be some of our food–to come closer. And we have to be on better behavior and nicer people to others in Ramadan. So that’s why zakat–many people wait until Ramadan to give because they are saying, “Hey, if I give it now I get 70 times the reward, if I give it in Ramadan.” Why do we wait until Christmas to buy so much stuff? One is because it’s the time of giving, but also because we know the Christmas sales. So Ramadan is a time when instead of, for example, going to the bank and getting $1, you can get 70 times. Then, hey, I’m going to make the withdrawal at that time. So that’s why people like to give in Ramadan.

Q: So that’s also a good time for groups like yours.

A: It is. But surprisingly, we also do really well throughout the year. We do well in Ramadan. In Ramadan it’s people want to come and they want to give us money. The rest of the year we have to go to them and say, “Hey, hey, hey. People still have to eat. They don’t just eat in the month of Ramadan. They need to drink water, they need to eat, they need to get educated a whole year. Ramadan is a time where we have a spiked increase. But also, if there’s a crisis such as the tsunami, or an earthquake somewhere, at that time we sometimes raise as much as Ramadan. So if there’s no major crisis, we know that a spike comes in Ramadan. At other times of the year we have to go out. For example, we’re at the moment doing a series of concerts. We just have to work a lot harder outside of Ramadan. But we believe that this work is important. We’re not here just to work in Ramadan.

Q: I want to ask you about the concert. What are you trying to do with that?

A: We wanted to bring people together of different backgrounds, and we wanted them to have a good time together. That was one objective. A second objective was to reach out to potential new donors about the work that we’re doing in Islamic Relief. A third objective was to raise funds for the projects that we’re doing. You see, we go out all the time and ask people for money throughout the year. We wanted to do something different, where families could come together, people could meet each other. At the concert we did last year in LA, I spoke to one of the elders in the community and I said, “Well, this has been the biggest event that I’ve seen here in LA in 13 years.” He looked at me. He said, “What are you talking about? It’s the biggest event in the last 30 years.” And another one said, “I haven’t seen some of my friends for 20 years. You guys helped to bring everybody together.” So our idea is to bring people together, have a great time, and help others so they can have a bit of a better time.

Q: Has it become more challenging to do some of this work since 9/11? There’s been an increased effort to find links to terrorism, and Muslim groups and charities have been among that.

A: It’s been more interesting. It’s definitely been more interesting. More death threats for the community, for sure. We’ve received them after 9/11. We received some death threats before 9/11. We just received more death threats after 9/11. I used to get checked at the airport every time I would come on an international flight. Now I get checked every time on a domestic flight. It just means I have to change my lifestyle a little bit. I have to be at the airport two hours early, and I have to expect to be randomly checked. I just smile and I continue my work. The surprising thing is that with all of the checking that’s being done, it’s increased our transparency. So when people ask where the money’s gone, this is one of our priorities. We have to, because people are asking us. So the same information we give to the government, we can give to anybody. So actually, I believe that our information flow has increased. And, by the way, our donations have increased radically since 9/11. So since 9/11 we’ve become–we’ve been able to share more of our information. We’ve realized how important it is. People trust us more, and people have been giving us more, especially from the non-Muslim community. Sept. 11 forced us to–we couldn’t just stay where we were. We’re constantly reaching out to new donors, constantly reaching out to new communities. We have to be dynamic. We cannot sit on the fence. It’s made us go out and think more about doing local work in the U.S. It’s made us think about doing more international work, reaching out to different communities.

Q: Are there more hoops you have to jump through for the U.S. government, just to be transparent?

A: That’s an issue for our finance department. Our finance department has to do whatever they’re asked to do, and they’re doing that. We welcome the chance to show how efficient we are. We welcome the chance to show what we’re really doing. People are very surprised. After the Pakistan earthquake nearly two years ago, I was very surprised to find out that some of our top donors in America were non-Muslim accounting firms. How come? They went and they checked our records. The same records we had to show the government, they saw. They were very impressed, and they were very generous. Many people are coming up to me and saying, “We are so happy the way that you are explaining to us in your annual report where the money’s going.” So we’ve become more open, and that’s actually helped us. Maybe the way it happened, we would have liked it to be maybe in a better way. But the results have been that we are now sharing more information. And once people see the work that we’re doing, we believe they’ll give more.

Q: Do people say, “I want to give, but I’m a little worried if I write a check somebody’s going to investigate me, or there’s going to be a paper trail”?

A: I heard, “If I give money to you, I’m going to go to jail. This is what I’m worried about.” They said, “We’re worried if we give money to any Muslim, no matter how good and how clean and how transparent you are, that we’re going to go to jail, or we’re going to be deported.” There are many concerns from the Muslim community, and my concern is that what we may be doing is driving these donations underground. I’d rather they give to a nonprofit 501(c)3 that’s transparent, that the U.S. government can come and look at any time, rather than they give money to a friend of a friend who sends the money overseas. I’m worried that if it’s not seen, if we’re not supporting legitimate, official, government-sanctioned organizations, we don’t have accountability of where the money’s going. So instead of making sure the money gets spent in the right place, it may be–we just don’t know where a lot of this money’s going. So I’m encouraging people, look, if you were giving money every year to an organization and suddenly you drop off the radar, people are going to ask what you did with that money, with that zakat and with that sadaqah. It’s better for you to give to us, as long as we are in good standing with the government. Any organization that’s in good standing with the government, you should donate. The day that any organization, no matter if it’s Muslim, Christian, Jewish, is no longer in good standing, or of no faith, stop giving. But give according to the guidelines. So if the IRS allows these organizations to work, you donate. If for some reason they stop, immediately you stop, and you find another organization that’s approved, and you donate to them. Many people are afraid, and we have to fight their fear. People are saying that the U.S. government won’t allow us to pay our zakat. I’m saying they will. You have that perception. They close down some organizations that some people used to donate to. So you give to somebody else. Your allegiance is not to an organization; it’s to the needy. You can still give your zakat. You have that freedom in the U.S. But some people are afraid, and I tell them that this is a test of their faith, that as long as they’re giving to organizations that are cleared by the U.S. government, are allowed to legally operate, they’re fine. Please give the money openly. It’s got to be transparent. Let people know what we’re doing, and thank God. You’re doing the right thing. You’re trying to prevent widows from suffering, maybe prevent young girls from being raped in certain countries, helping orphans. These are the kind of projects. If something happens to you, then that’s your sacrifice, but we don’t believe anything will happen to you if you do the right thing, and this is what I have to tell to people. I can’t guarantee that I’m going to be working in this organization tomorrow. I can’t guarantee I’m going to be alive tomorrow. But what I can guarantee is that as long as we are doing what we’re doing, we’re going to work with the authorities, and we’re going to encourage people to work together to make this world a better place.

]]>Read more of Kim Lawton’s interview about Muslim charities with Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Counsel:

Q: How much concern is there in the Muslim community about the situation for Muslim charities today?

A: I think there are a lot of concerns, mainly because people feel like they’re working in the dark, that the government really hasn’t provided avenues to give donations, especially when it comes to relief work overseas, in a safe way, in a way that people feel like they’re not going to be harassed by the government. The government has said that they are going to make sure that money doesn’t go to the hands of terrorists, which I think is very good. It’s a laudable effort on their part. But, at the same time, we cannot sacrifice the ability to give to those in need, especially in places like the Palestinian territories, Kashmir, and Chechnya that are the hot spots, that need the relief the most in terms of the Muslim world. And what we have done is told the government we need to do something in partnership with you to make sure that, while there is no terrorism financing, haritable giving for the needy is not sacrificed as a result.

Q: Is there fear within the community and among individual donors that they might come under suspicion?

A: I think a lot of people have fear about giving, and I think it’s justifiable. I was at a hearing in the Congress one time when a senator says, “We’re not just going to go after the charities, we might also go after donors.” And so now if it’s an issue of donor rights, then I think we should be very concerned, and also from an American geopolitical standpoint I think the United States government has to think about, and think carefully about what it’s doing, because it does not want to cut itself off from the people of the Muslim world, because we’re trying to win hearts and minds. And if the people of the Muslim world see that the U.S. government is against the relief efforts that are supposed to help the people in that region, then the whole campaign to win hearts and minds will be sacrificed as well.

Q: Is there a perception that the U.S. government is unfairly going after, or perhaps taking a look at, some of these groups?

A: Definitely the perception is that Muslim charities are going through more scrutiny, and I think that’s understandable. Nobody is saying we shouldn’t, and that’s just a reality of the post-9/11 era. The question is can we allow a safe harbor for Muslim charities to operate under without the fear of getting harassed, targeted, and shut down by the U.S. government? I’ll just give you an example. We formed a national council of Muslim nonprofits, with Treasury in the discussion, with a number of Muslim charities at the table, and with a number of other Muslim organizations working with us on that issue. And after two or three years, one charity after another got shut down, and we had no more organizations to form the nonprofit association. So that project unfortunately died as a result of these groups being shut down without any explanation, without giving us proper information or recourse on what to do if we want to form a coalition that works with the Treasury Department on trying to provide relief for those in need overseas.

Q: What reverberations or shock waves did that send when some of these organizations just all of a sudden–

A: I wouldn’t say that there were reverberations or shock waves. It’s like we’ve just gotten used to it. We know that this is the reality of the post-9/11 era, and we’re trying to adjust. We’re just trying to continue working, meet our religious obligation, because the Qur’an, the whole theme of the Qur’an is social justice. Without social justice, religion becomes just a means of exploitation, and that’s what the extremists are doing. They are promoting religion without justice, which is mainly exploitation. And so now to have our government tell us that charitable giving is going to be more narrow, or could be even cut off, that is taking away from people’s feeling that they are just performing their religious obligation. So that’s one problem. Then the second problem is, well, how are we going to work with the government? We want to develop a partnership between the Muslim community and the U.S. government. Treat us as partners, not as suspects. And we feel that we can work together on meeting the U.S. government goals and, at the same time, allowing Muslim Americans to perform their religious obligations, and to give to those in need. Whether they want to give here in America or give abroad, it’s their right to do so, and to protect the donor, because now you have another situation where about $12 or 15 million were frozen when the United States government shut those charities. That money now has disappeared for legal costs, for administrative costs, so it didn’t go to the needy. And there is a group of nonprofits now that are calling for the Treasury Department to return money to the donors, or to send the money to the intended recipients through a third party, through another charity that is already operating in the region. So we’re willing to adjust, but we feel that the Treasury Department and the U.S. government in general have not adjusted as well. They’re still trying to figure out what to do.

Q: Do you sense that the Treasury Department or the U.S. government isn’t willing to enter into the partnerships you’re proposing?

A: I think there is an intention to work in partnership with us, and there’s a desire to have dialogue at a certain level, at the low level, if you will, of staffers in our government. The policy people are the ones that are not in dialogue, so when it comes to Treasury, it should be the Secretary of the Treasury. It should be Stuart Levy, who is in charge of the whole operation, that should be in dialogue with us. With the F.B.I. we have dialogue with the director, with his assistant directors. With the Justice Department we’ve met with [former] Attorney General Gonzales on a number of occasions. We’ve even met with the president on three occasions. But the Treasury Department still has not sat down with us, other than one time, to say “Yes, we’re willing to have a dialogue with you,” and then provided some very broad guidelines to us, and then that was it. We really haven’t had much movement in terms of working out a healthy partnership with the Treasury on this issue.

Q: Talk about the importance of giving and charity within Islam, the principle of zakat. How important is it?

A: Islam is a religion that was established for the purpose of promoting one of the highest ethical values of all faiths, and that is justice. Part of promoting justice is to work for those who are dispossessed, who are disenfranchised, who are needy, who are impoverished. It even lists, in the Qur’an, all these categories of people who deserve what God has given us. In other words, it’s not, you know–what I have in this life is not mine; it’s something that God has granted me, you know, in luxury–the luxury of time, the luxury of money, the luxury of being able to move freely. Other people don’t have that luxury; they don’t have that right. And so it is my responsibility as a Muslim to make sure that that person has the right. And so I work for the homeless, as a Muslim, and their rights. And I work for the refugees overseas, who are the homeless of the world, as my responsibility. So whatever the government says, you know, is secondary to what my religion is telling me, and that is I have to help those in need. Of course, none of that money should go into the hands of terrorism. And every Muslim individual that works in this field that I’ve met, every humanitarian aid worker wants to make sure that money goes into the right hands, not into the wrong hands. And to date there hasn’t been a single conviction of any Muslim individual for terrorism financing. So all this talk about mosques now are fronts for terrorists and terrorists financing, and charities are just giving money to terrorists abroad–that is for public consumption. That is a myth. That’s not the reality. The reality is people are working because the Qur’an says you have to give money to the needy, you have to give the money to the refugee, you have to give the money to the orphan, you have to give money to the homeless. So we’re just performing our religious obligation, and I know that there are Christian missionaries and other Christian organizations that do exactly the same thing, because they feel it is their lifelong mission. And there are Jewish organizations that do the same thing. When it comes to Muslim organizations in America it’s interesting, because really we’re talking about a handful of organizations, and probably the smallest of all the other religious groups that do this kind of work. So when it comes to regulating that from the U.S. government standpoint, it should be relatively easy and simple. But I think our government has made it much more difficult than it should be in terms of regulating. In fact, they’ve deregulated the whole process. Now you hear stories about people, instead of giving money to a charity they’ll just send cash overseas. And you don’t know where the cash is ending up, whose hands it’s in right now. So in a way I think the U.S. government’s objectives of controlling financing of charities and preventing terrorism financing could be backfiring. And we just don’t know, because now the whole issue is deregulated.

Q: People are doing it more underground–

A: They find ways, exactly. I mean, people find ways to send money overseas. And if the government is saying don’t give money to these organizations, then they’re not going to give money to any organizations. They’ll give money through other channels. I think people have to understand that Muslim Americans also give to a number of domestic programs. They give to libraries. They give to homeless shelters. There’s, here in Los Angeles, something called the Free Umma Clinic, and these are Muslim doctors that provide free services, medical services, to the indigent here in South Central Los Angeles. And there are fundraisers for those programs as well, so people give both domestically and internationally. But when it comes to the Muslim world, it seems that that area is off limits, or that’s the message we’re getting from the U.S. government. And I think that’s not the message they want; they should think about delivering a different message to the world, because this becomes a source of anti-American sentiment when people view that the United States is blocking aid to a certain region where people are really in need. But Muslim Americans are involved in these clinics that I just mentioned. They’re involved in helping out schools. One of the largest donors for other charities involving the United Way, for example, involving YMCAs, involving so many other groups happen to be Muslim, and also donors to major academic institutions. So people give and, again, I think that is based on the Qur’anic injunction that I have to give part of what I’ve been granted in this life to the needy. Zakat means, in Arabic, “the purifying dues.” So by giving I purify myself in the process, and it’s all part of the self-purification process.

Q: Some people say don’t give your money to a Muslim organization, just give it to the Salvation Army or somebody else that’s not getting looked at. Is that the right way to respond?

A: I don’t think so. I think that creates sort of a negative self-image of the Muslim community. I think you should give to non-Muslims, definitely, but you should also be proud of your own heritage, of your own religion, and not feel that you’re being forced out of your own identity. I think it creates an identity crisis when you feel like you have to give to non-Muslim organizations to be safe. It should be free will in terms of giving to any organization, but to feel that you’re forced out of giving to Muslim organizations is very unhealthy.

There are five things every Muslim has to do. Number one: shahadah, the testimony of faith — to testify that there is no deity but God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger. Number two: to pray five times a day — morning, noon, afternoon, sunset, and night prayer. Number three: to give zakat or charity to the poor. Number four: to fast the month of Ramadan. And number five, to perform the hajj, the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, at least once in your lifetime.

Now we are in the month of Ramadan, and [it] is one of the most important experiences one could go through as a Muslim. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar; it depends on the moon. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, and it changes every year. Every year, scientifically speaking, loses 10 days. If Ramadan starts on the 15th of October this year, [next] year it would most likely start on the 5th of October.

Ramadan is the month in which Muslims believe the Torah was revealed to Moses, the gospel was revealed to Jesus Christ, the psalms were revealed to David, and the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Ramadan is the month that, according to Islam, God has chosen to speak to his prophets.

Every Muslim has to fast at least the month of Ramadan, but after that, Muslims are encouraged to fast, for example, like in Judaism, Monday and Thursday. Muslims are also encouraged to fast the 13th, 14th, and 15th in every month in the Islamic calendar. Muslims are encouraged to fast as a token of gratitude to God. It becomes a personal experience to decide when and how and where to do it.

Ramadan is what I call a month of training, a course of training. Every Muslim goes through this training for 30 days. I call it a month of autoemancipation, self-liberation. Ramadan emancipates me from myself. It emancipates me from my desires. It allows me to live in this world, but not of it. It liberates me from being controlled by my desires, because I don’t want to be controlled by my desires. People could easily get angry; people could easily lose their temper; people could easily become immoral and interact with others in a very immoral way because of their selfishness. Ramadan teaches me to give up on that selfishness for the sake of being a good fellow human being with others.

Fasting is to abstain from food and drink or any intimate relationship with your spouse from dawn to sunset. Not every man, not every woman, not every child could do that every day. There are people who are exempted from fasting according to Islamic teachings, such as breast-feeding women who may not be able to fast because they have to produce enough milk for their children; senior citizens, older ones who cannot fast because of their age. People with permanent diseases who are on medication throughout the day are also exempted from fasting. Travelers are, also. There are many types of people who may not fast.

Even if you don’t fast, you have to continue being in the spirit of fasting. An amount of money for those who cannot fast is supposed to be given to the poor and to the needy in the neighborhood. Those who cannot fast would calculate how much money they would have otherwise spent on food that day — let’s say $30 a day on food. Thirty times 30 days a month — that is $900. They will take that $900 and give it to the poor in the local community. When my wife was pregnant, she could not fast. It was her choice not to fast. She decided to calculate how much money she usually spends on food every day. It was almost $3,000 a month in food, and she decided to take that money and give it to a poor family within our neighborhood.

A fasting person would start his day with the suhoor, a light early morning meal. … That would help sustain them the rest of the day without food and drink. This has to happen before the sun rises. Immediately after that, a fasting person would conduct or perform his or her morning prayer. Then they would go on with their normal activities every day. Then later, when sun sets, they break the fast by usually eating a date and praying the sunset prayer. Muslims usually try to do that in a family setting. Ramadan helps Muslims “reassure” their family ties, so most Muslims would usually like to break the fast by inviting other family members or even friends to that break-of-the-fast meal. If they cannot, they try their best to break the fast with someone else they know.

After they do that, they go to the mosque, to a special Ramadan prayer called Taraweeh, which takes almost an hour, hour and -a half, sometimes three hours; it depends on the imam and the local community. That prayer usually is used to recite the entire Qur’an in the month of Ramadan. The Qur’an would be divided into 30 parts, and every part would be recited on that day. Usually, our imams here in the states pick a certain theme on that day within those verses and speak about that as a sermon. After that, people go back home, sleep, and start the day again — for 30 days.

The Qur’an is very important for Muslims, and Ramadan is very much connected to the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the month of Ramadan, and therefore Muslims try to connect with the Qur’an, believed to be the very word of God, in the month of Ramadan. Muslims try to divide the Qur’an into 30 parts, and they read one part every day, and by the end of Ramadan they have concluded reciting the entire Qur’an. Usually Muslims are encouraged to try to not only read and recite the Qur’an and chant it, but also to understand the message of the Qur’an. The imam, for example, tries his best to focus on one theme every night, so by the end of the month, people have focused on 30 themes and concepts in the Qur’an in the month of Ramadan.

After Ramadan comes the Eid, the three-day holiday during which Muslims pray and invite others to enjoy the ability to have fasted for the month of Ramadan, the ability to have gratitude to God, the ability to have given enough charity to the poor, enough charity to the needy. They have a path to self-emancipation and liberation; they have become part of a larger community rather than continuing to be selfish. They are not anymore concerned about their own personal ego and needs. They are now concerned about the needs of their fellow neighbors, their fellow human beings — the needs of everyone they come across.

Fasting is not an easy practice. You need really to get used to it. But once you are used to it, it’s very normal and actually a very natural practice for us as human beings. Usually, for those who don’t fast that much or that often, in the very first few days it is very difficult. But because of their conviction, because of their belief in God, because of their belief that this is a duty that one has to undertake, people do it. Once you are past three or four days, it becomes very normal.

People can easily pass those three days with conviction because they are so convinced that this is the command of the Almighty One, because they’re so convinced that the Prophet Muhammad did it, hence I have to do it. We believe that with fasting, one improves. We believe with fasting, one beautifies his soul or her soul. With fasting, one becomes closer to God. One becomes a better human being, a better person. There are fruits that one would bring about just by fasting. The conviction, the belief in the outcome of fasting would be enough power to energize people to fast past the test of the [first] three days.

Prayers help, with no doubt. Prayer at the beginning of Ramadan helps because at the end of the day there are many temptations around us. You go to work, and there are people around you who are already having their lunch, having their dinner. As you pass by a restaurant and you get a great smell, very attractive, you say, “Wait a minute, I need to get into that Chinese restaurant right now.” I love Chinese food. I just love it. So, for me, just passing by a Chinese restaurant at 12:00 midday, and I cannot just go in as I usually do, is quite difficult. But I believe in sustaining myself and being in control. This is what fasting is all about — my ability to say to my desires “No,” even if my desires want me to do something.

I might want to be angry with someone because of something. I say to myself, “No.” My temptations might lead me to abuse or curse or react in a violent way to someone’s attack on me. The month of Ramadan tells me, “No, don’t react. Be always yourself.” Prophet Muhammad told his followers, “If you happen to be fasting and someone curses you, do not curse back; always remember that you are fasting.” In other words, you are in control of yourself now, not the other. Do not allow others to lead you to becoming an immoral person. Always be yourself regardless of the circumstances.

Prophet Muhammad once told his followers that those who are fasting, yet do not avoid vain talk and action, do not need to be fasting. Fasting is meant to teach me to give up on cursing others, abusing others, looking down on others, speaking ill of others. Some people could say, “Well, Muslims do that very well in the month of Ramadan, but once the month is over, then I go back to becoming immoral.” I don’t think so. I think this is a training course for us, to sustain that personality throughout the year. Then after a year, I might start losing the momentum. This is why another month of Ramadan comes, to keep me on the path of guidance, on the path of righteousness.

I fight the temptations of life with conviction, and with the belief that if there is a will, there is a way. If I have the will to do something, I have the way to find the path to that will. You know, it’s as easy to find an excuse why you need to lose [your will], but I also believe that it is very possible to find the conviction to bring your will about.

Some children want to get into the practice that they see their parents doing. Some of them are not interested because they do not understand what it means to fast. My own children are very much interested in doing what we are doing. However, three or four hours later they’re so hungry. They don’t understand; they really need to eat. Our older daughter, or the younger one, tries to fast for three or four hours. Then she goes to the fridge and says, “Daddy, Mommy, can I have just a small sandwich?” “Of course,” we say. Then three hours later they say, “Well, I fasted for three hours. Could I just have one single bite?” So, she practices it herself. She finds a way to get into the practice of fasting.

When I was seven years old, I fasted for two weeks. They were so difficult; I remember them. But everyone around me was fasting, so it was easy for me to fast because everyone was doing it. The year after that, when I was eight, I fasted three weeks. The year after that, I fasted the entire month. Since then, I have always fasted the month of Ramadan. I never broke any of those days.

The month of Ramadan is expected to teach us to be in control of ourselves, in control of our desires, in control of our wants. It’s easy to want to have 10 items of food on your table, because that’s what our desires want. I want to have spicy rice and soup and this and that. The month of Ramadan is the month in which we learn how to control our desires, how to control all the temptations out there. Families are encouraged to have one, two, maximum three items of food on their table.

Many families go over that. Sometimes you’ll find 20 items of food on their tables. And very often this food is thrown into the trash a few hours later, which is exactly the opposite of what Ramadan is supposed to teach us. Ramadan is supposed to teach us how to save for the poor, how to give some of what we have for the poor and the needy and not to throw anything away, to show gratitude to God. Some of those practices are exactly the opposite of what Ramadan is meant to be.

In many countries, we have special sweets for Ramadan. You have qatayef in the Arab world. You have halwa in India and Pakistan. These types of sweets are made only in the month of Ramadan. Is that a religious thing? No. It is what cultures have developed throughout the last 1,400 years. But most Muslims are encouraged to break the fast with a small date, a drink of water, [then] pray [and] come back for a very humble, simple meal — unless some families want to show hospitality to guests. Then they might offer them a little bit bigger meal, only to show some hospitality.

There’s no specific reason Muslims break the fast with dates, except that the Prophet Muhammad used to break his fast with dates. The Prophet Muhammad, for a Muslim, is an example, a role model. What he did is something we would like to do. The Prophet Muhammad used to reach out to his neighbor. The Prophet Muhammad used to have a Jewish neighbor, an old Jewish lady, and the Prophet Muhammad got into the habit of visiting his neighbor early in the morning every day. This is a routine for him. He used to look after her, to fix breakfast for her, clean her home, then go back to his home. Every Muslim is expected to do that if he or she has a neighbor. Even if from a different religion, Muslims are encouraged to reach out to those neighbors, look after their needs.

Muslims believe that the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during the night of the 27th of Ramadan, and therefore what they try to do is to spend that entire night in the mosque. You go to many mosques and you find thousands or hundreds of people just there from sunset all the way to sunrise, praying to God for forgiveness; praying to God for salvation; asking God to accept them in heaven; asking God to heal their sick ones; asking God to bring back the absent; asking God for safety in life and more prosperity in life; asking God for a better life.

This is called Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, the night in which the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims use this night as well to donate more money to the poor. Muslims believe that during the Night of Power, your deed is equal to 1,000 deeds in the rest of the year. If you donate $1 to a poor family during the Night of Power, it will be as if you have donated $1,000 to that person, and therefore God will reward you for $1,000. Many Muslims actually wait until the Night of Power to donate their wealth and their money to the poor and to the needy.

Many mosques have lists of poor families. Usually on the 29th and the 30th of Ramadan, those mosques reach out to those poor families to give them the money that they have collected during Ramadan, and especially on the Night of Power.

I come very early in the morning to Georgetown University. I leave home around 4:30 a.m. to be here on time for the morning sahoor or breakfast, the meal with which Muslims start their fasting. Sometimes you’ll have two people coming to sahoor; sometimes you have as many as 30 or 40 students. I also do my sahoor at home very often. My wife wakes up, my children wake up, and if we have Muslim neighbors, they would also wake up and come over. At 5:00 in the morning, people are enjoying their breakfast together — a very light meal, however. Immediately after that, people go into meditation and prayer to start the day.

During sahoor, leaders are expected to serve the food. The idea is that, as Prophet Muhammad said, the leaders of people are expected to serve, to cater to the needs of others, not to order and command others. Imams, in this case, would be expected to be the ones to cook the food, prepare the food, serve the food when others are there to just enjoy the day.

Ramadan really teaches me as a Muslim to connect with God, so I start my day with a prayer. I start my day with a meditation. I start my day with a special personal prayer in which I sit down and reflect on my relationship with God, with the Divine, with the Almighty Creator. I reflect on my relationship with God in the way I interact with my fellow human beings. My fellow human beings are not all Muslims. Some may be Jews. Others may be Christians. Others may be Buddhists or Hindus. Others may be of other religions. As a Muslim I am expected, in the spirit of the month of Ramadan, to reach out to all people.

I finish my meditation; I sit down; I do some work. Then I say, “Whom am I going to visit today? I need to visit someone who is not a Muslim.” I need to make the point that I am not someone who would like to exclude himself from society, but rather be a part of society. I reach out to a Jewish friend, visiting with a rabbi whom I have known for some time. But he’s very busy in his congregation, I’m very busy — we don’t get to see each other very often. The month of Ramadan says, “Imam, you better be in control of your time. You better reach out to your friend whom you have not seen for some time. Go give him a hug. Give him a kiss. Why not? Sit down and talk about something. Be good brothers. Talk about why Jews and Muslims are not enemies.”

I don’t believe that Jews and Muslims are enemies. I don’t believe that Muslims and Christians are enemies. I believe we are friends. I believe we are partners. The month of Ramadan gives me the spirit to reach out to them, to ensure everyone that we are brothers and sisters; we are partners on the path to God. I visited with the rabbi at the synagogue just to tell him, “Brother, you are indeed my brother. What can we do together to make this world a better world for all of us?”

The style of life we all have is busy. We are all requested to do all kinds of things: leave early in the morning, come back home, and even when we come back home we have other things to do. Ramadan really, really teaches us how to be organized, how to manage our time. There are five daily prayers, and every prayer has its own time. You know when it starts; you know when it ends. You know when your appointment starts; you know when it ends. When you are expected to be somewhere at 5:15, you have to be there at 5:15 and not 5:30, not 7:00, as some people may do. Ramadan really teaches Muslims always to be on time. I am not saying that all Muslims are always on time. We also fail to carry out the teachings of our religion, but that is what Islam is expected to teach us — five daily prayers.

We organize our schedules, our appointments, around those times. I make sure that I do not have a meeting during my noon prayer. When my noon prayer comes, that is the time for me to say, “Sorry, colleagues, I need to pray.” Why do I need to give up on my meeting? I’m not giving up on my meeting. I really need to recharge. I recharge my batteries. I recharge my energy by standing before God, the source of all energy and power, to say, “God, help me go on with the rest of the day. It is only you who can help and empower me. And unless you give me that power and energy, I cannot make it.” I feel that charge from God.

I go into another meeting, then to another meeting. Then, when I’m almost tired and exhausted, I need more energy from God. I go on to another prayer. I say, “God, thank you for having helped me throughout the last seven or eight hours. I still have another five hours to go. It is you who can empower me to make it.” I feel that energy coming from God. I rely on God to be organized. I rely on God to be a better human being.

To be better organized, to make sure that you’re always on time, I have my own personal digital assistant [PDA], a very sophisticated PDA. It’s like a small personal computer. It goes off when the prayer time comes. The adhan or the call to prayer starts, and I very often tell my colleagues in a meeting, “Sorry, these are two minutes for me. You need to wait.”

I have the entire Qur’an on my PDA, so I can actually ask it to recite any of the chapters within a second. On it I have my appointments, I have my contacts. I can hook up to [the] Internet anywhere in the country. This specific one is also a navigator that connects you with a global positioning system, so I’m never lost. I hope I’m never lost spiritually and never lost geographically as well.

Ramadan is a time to reflect on my relationships with my wife, with my children. Have I been doing well or not? Have I failed? Have I succeeded? It’s a time for me to look into myself and see if I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish in the previous year. Am I willing to go into another year, and what kind of year do I want to have? Have I been in control of myself or not? Have I lost it, and why did I lose it? Am I going to be a better person for the year to come? The month of Ramadan tells me that I am not just a single human being who lives on his own on this earth. I am part of a human family. When I reach out to the Jews and I reach out to the Christians, when I reach out to the Buddhists, when I reach out to every human being whether they do or don’t have a certain faith, I do that in the spirit of the month of Ramadan

The month of Ramadan is a time for me to reconnect with my God. It’s a time for me to recharge for the rest of the year. It’s a time for spiritual empowerment. It’s a good time for me to reach out to my neighbors. It’s a time for me to review my account with God and with others around me. It reminds me if I have a responsibility that I have not fulfilled. Ramadan is a time for me to connect with the Qur’an. The Prophet Muhammad said, “If people were to know how good Ramadan is and the kind of good things it can do for people, they would wish that the entire year is Ramadan.” I really wish that the entire year is Ramadan.